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jaunthieMore musing on women-buddy shows or pictures, and the lack thereof in my view. If you don't know what I'm talking about, see my previous post.
So as I was saying, I've thought about it a little more, and I realize that it's the confidence-in-own-abilities part that I don't often see on TV and/or movies that feature women leads (those that exist, and you can't tell me there are enough of them). In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, both Lorelei and Dorothy are confident in themselves and in each other. Yes, the going gets rough, and there are challenging moments of doubt for each character, but they're transient. By and large these are two confident, competent ladies who roll with the punches and can get back on their own two feet even when they find themselves stranded and almost broke in Paris (love that cafe musical number!). It's a big part of what makes that movie fun. Similarly, in The Wild Wild West (again, read my previous post if you don't know why I'm bringing this up), our heroes are confident and competent, even at gunpoint - sometimes to the point of being hilariously cocky with it. This confidence is part of the humor, but also part of the "buddy" dynamic relationship that doesn't often carry over into women's-lead shows or movies. Xena had a good bit of it, particularly once Gabrielle learned a few things and stopped being pure sidekick (no flames, Gab-fans: you have to admit when she first left her village, she was pretty helpless and wasn't always well-written) and Xena lightened up a little. The best episodes of that show featured two characters with similar levels of individual competence and confidence and trust in themselves and each other. Xena also featured angst/doubt eps, of course, in a way that male-buddy shows don't usually do, but again, the best of those worked at least in part because there was that core bedrock of competence and confidence behind them.
I dunno. Maybe it's an essential part of swashbuckling, to have that bit of swagger and a lot of self-confidence, and not a part of buddy-picture per se, but I think the two are related. And I have to admit that for pure fun, I like my characters to have a touch of panache. But I also think that having self-confident female characters is a good thing, and that having two or more self-confident female characters who trust and like each other is an excellent thing. And I just can't think of a lot of those in our current popular culture matrix. Anyone want to tell me obvious pairs I'm overlooking?
Edited to add that a) it doesn't have to be pairs, groups are fine, and b) the Charlie's Angels movies were probably tapping into this missing genre. So I guess there's something out there in the recent pop culture.
So as I was saying, I've thought about it a little more, and I realize that it's the confidence-in-own-abilities part that I don't often see on TV and/or movies that feature women leads (those that exist, and you can't tell me there are enough of them). In Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, both Lorelei and Dorothy are confident in themselves and in each other. Yes, the going gets rough, and there are challenging moments of doubt for each character, but they're transient. By and large these are two confident, competent ladies who roll with the punches and can get back on their own two feet even when they find themselves stranded and almost broke in Paris (love that cafe musical number!). It's a big part of what makes that movie fun. Similarly, in The Wild Wild West (again, read my previous post if you don't know why I'm bringing this up), our heroes are confident and competent, even at gunpoint - sometimes to the point of being hilariously cocky with it. This confidence is part of the humor, but also part of the "buddy" dynamic relationship that doesn't often carry over into women's-lead shows or movies. Xena had a good bit of it, particularly once Gabrielle learned a few things and stopped being pure sidekick (no flames, Gab-fans: you have to admit when she first left her village, she was pretty helpless and wasn't always well-written) and Xena lightened up a little. The best episodes of that show featured two characters with similar levels of individual competence and confidence and trust in themselves and each other. Xena also featured angst/doubt eps, of course, in a way that male-buddy shows don't usually do, but again, the best of those worked at least in part because there was that core bedrock of competence and confidence behind them.
I dunno. Maybe it's an essential part of swashbuckling, to have that bit of swagger and a lot of self-confidence, and not a part of buddy-picture per se, but I think the two are related. And I have to admit that for pure fun, I like my characters to have a touch of panache. But I also think that having self-confident female characters is a good thing, and that having two or more self-confident female characters who trust and like each other is an excellent thing. And I just can't think of a lot of those in our current popular culture matrix. Anyone want to tell me obvious pairs I'm overlooking?
Edited to add that a) it doesn't have to be pairs, groups are fine, and b) the Charlie's Angels movies were probably tapping into this missing genre. So I guess there's something out there in the recent pop culture.
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Date: 2006-06-26 07:35 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 09:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-06-26 10:14 pm (UTC)Do any of these comparisons mean anything to you? ;-)
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Date: 2006-06-27 02:38 pm (UTC)